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About this project

[See the updates page here and citographer.com for weekly-ish updates, but as I write this there is only a short time left. (Main project pages can't be edited once pledging completes.) We've met all our stretch goals! Thanks everyone! Once we get into a later beta stage we'll make the core software, icon/art packs, building interiors PDF, and even more icons/art packs available for general sale on the CItyographer website.]

Stretch Goals Note (jump to the next section for an overview of the project.)

Based on survey results, we're adding the following stretch goals:

$12,500: A second icon/art pack of medieval fantasy buildings and city objects.

$15,000: An icon/art pack of post-apocalyptic (or modern ruins) buildings and city objects.

$17,500: A PDF of 75+ building interiors. The larger buildings are likely to be modular so you can take halves of two different inns to make a third inn layout. To get the PDF, just count it as any other icon pack--some reward levels ask for an additional $20 for the icon pack, some higher levels ask for $15. In the survey, you can tell us which icon packs you'd like including this building PDF. A sample inn is at the bottom of this page: http://www.dungeonographer.com/samples/

(One medieval fantasy, modern, and far future art packs were already part of the project.)

Additionally, the number of building graphics built into Cityographer (spanning all genres) will be equal to the number of backers at the $45 level and above. (currently 129 as I write this.) So spread the word because every additional backer at that level makes the project a bit better for everyone!

Ultra-Succinct Summary

Random city generator and editor for role-playing games of multiple genres & systems. Runs on Windows, Mac OSX and Linux.

More than just map software!

Do your players ever take a game session in a different direction and you need a quick city or village? Or maybe you want to cut down on your game's prep time by getting some help creating some of the cities or villages in your game's setting? (Whether you want the system to do 90% of the work or just 20%--customize the results as much as you want.)

Cityographer is the perfect solution for these situations! You set some preferences for the city you want (technology level, population size, whether the city has a river, if it is on the coast, etc.) on a setup screen and it will randomly generate an entire village or city for you. (You can also start with a blank map/city.)

Not only will the program generate the city's map, but it will generate simple floorplans of the buildings, and each building's residents and any important belongings. If the building is a business you'll also get a list of the staff and a menu or price list of products available.

Further, everything and anything can be fully or individually re-generated or hand edited! So if you don't like the whole city, just start over. But if you simply don't like the placement of a few buildings, move them or delete them and add new ones. If you don't like a particular building just regenerate it or an aspect of it. For example if the building is an inn, regenerate it or regenerate just the staff or just the price list or hand edit any particular item!

Note: Although the backer rewards list a delivery timeframe of October, we hope to have a beta available in September and perhaps earlier.

Take the city with you

Like sister-products Hexographer and Dungeonographer, Cityographer will be written in Java and can easily be run from a laptop running Windows, Mac OSX or Linux. But Cityographer will also let you export your city/village to a set of webpages which you can ZIP and transfer to another computer or post to a website to view via a hand-held device. An RTF export will also be available. There will likely also be a PDF export which will make your city into a PDF document for viewing on anything with a PDF viewer. Maybe an MS Word export too.

Screenshots from the mockup/prototype

Setup screen:

The setup screen lets you set the size of your map and pick the city's size, technology level, and other features.

City map:

View and edit an automatically generated map of the city. This particular map has a very orderly layout, but other layouts will be more varied.

Inn's details:

For any building, view/re-generate/edit the residents and a mini floorplan. For a business, you can also view/re-generate/edit the staff, products available, prices, etc. Note that the data will be configurable based on the city's technology level. Further, you'll be able to customize the configuration files for specific game systems as desired.

Regarding Betas & Prototypes

We'd love your feedback and input on the project! Please post comments here or on the Inkwell Ideas website. Every backer who backs for a Cityographer license will have access to early versions when they are available. Because we want your input, it didn't seem right to make this only available as a premium backer reward.

Special Note for Hexographer/Dungeonographer Owners

If you have a license to both tools, you'll get one free art pack (see below) when you pledge for Cityographer. (So for $25 you'll get a copy of Cityographer and an art pack of your choice. Since the art packs are $20 each, if you back for $65 you'll get Cityographer and three art packs instead of two..) We'll ask you if you have a license for the other two tools (and which art pack you want) in the end-of-project official survey.

(Yes, you can order Hexographer and/or Dungeonographer now to qualify for this bonus. See the links to those websites elsewhere on the page.) :)

Feature List

Easy to use User Interface. Making a tool for a specific purpose allows most of the complex options to be hidden.

Software generates a city/village map and information on the residents, floorplan, and belongings of each building. If the building is a business, it will also generate information on the staff, products available, prices, etc.

120+ building graphics will be built in. Nearly half will be fantasy/medieval, with the next largest set being modern, then some futuristic, some more primitive, and probably some steampunk and some western.

100+ other graphics will be built in. (Road textures, trees, other plants, streetlights, mailboxes, etc.)

Export to HTML, RTF, probably PDF and possibly MS Word.

Import your own PNG, JPG, or GIF graphics.

Art Packs

Each art pack will have 150+ graphics, mostly buildings.

The final list of art packs is still to be determined, but there will be at least a medieval/fantasy set, a modern set and a futuristic set. If there's enough interest (we'll post a survey shortly) we hope to add a western set, steampunk set, a"primitive" set (huts, tee-pees, etc.) and maybe a second medieval/fantasy set.

The graphics will be transparent PNGs so you may use them without Cityographer if that's your preference.

You may publish maps you make with the artwork.

Who is behind the project?

Inkwell Ideas
hopes to make this product with your support. Inkwell Ideas is the RPG
Tools company of Joe Wetzel and as mentioned above the company has a
couple of related products: Hexographer and Dungeonographer. Inkwell
Ideas also works with a number of freelancers to do documentation,
artwork, etc. Most of the map icon work is done by Keith Curtis. (Who is very honest and reliable and highly recommended.)

Making tools that make your games easier and better is what Inkwell ideas is all about, and I really hope you can support us further while getting something very useful in return.

Inkwell Ideas has also done two prior Kickstarters: DungeonMorph
Dice and Monster Stock Art & Minis. The dice (and related
products: cards, a font, etc.) took a while due to pushing the limits of
what is possible with dice manufacturing, but backers were updated
regularly and the products were sent to backers last December. The
artwork for the stock art & minis is being completed now, but
backers have already received a sample of the PDF if that reward was
chosen.

FAQ

I'm using Icon Pack interchangeably with the term Art pack. The application itself will have 120+ building graphics and 100+ other graphics (Road textures, trees, other plants, streetlights, mailboxes, etc.). However, those graphics will be spread among multiple genres. (medieval fantasy, modern, far future, western, steampunk, primitive, etc.--and that list is roughly in order of how many graphics each genre will have.)

The art packs will have at least 150 more graphics each, more than half of them will be extra buildings. For example, the base built in icons will have probably just 2 fantasy/medieval inns. The icon pack will probably give you 4-5 more where the shape of the inn varies and/or the color scheme and/or the textures vary.

(By the way, I know only 2 different built-inn fantasy inns seems a small number, but it add up: 2 inns, 2 taverns, 2 smiths, 2 shops, 2 exotic craftsman house/shops, 1 town hall, 2 temples, 1 arena... and about 30-40 other building types. So you can see how it adds up--and that's just fantasy/medieval buildings. There would likely be at least one more inn in each genre we support, more shops in the other genres, etc..)

Dungeonographer only does maps and descriptions of building interiors and of course Dungeons. While Hexographer has some support and icons for city building, it isn't specialized for that task. And it doesn't include a random city map generator or generators for the individual building types.

Yep, we'll have a set of config files where each tech level you choose for the city will point to a different config file. (So a weapons shop in a medieval city will have different weapons from a modern shop or SF shop.) And, you'll be able to point to specific versions of those config files for specific games. (Yes, the screenshots assume a D&D configuration.) Once we get into beta testing we'll release/post the built-in config files and you and other members of the community could customize and share them for specific games.

Rewards

You selected

Pledge $5 or more

1 backer

Thank you! If you've used the free versions of Hexographer, Dungeonographer or the other free tools at Inkwell Ideas but aren't ready/able to pledge for Cityographer or buy those, yet you want to buy a coffee or two as a thank you, pledge here. :)

Estimated delivery:Jun 2012

You selected

Pledge $25 or more

112 backers

A copy/license of Cityographer. (As with all digital rewards for this project, you'll be emailed a license code and download link.)

Estimated delivery:Oct 2012

You selected

Pledge $30 or more

8 backers

The graphics built into Cityographer and a single art pack without a Cityographer license. If you prefer to make maps with another tool but like to have a lot of art assets available, pick this. Add $20 per additional art pack.

Estimated delivery:Oct 2012

You selected

Pledge $45 or more

77 backers

A copy & license of Cityographer plus an extra icon pack. We will have a few different icon packs available (see description) and with this reward you'll be able to pick any one extra icon pack. If you want more than one icon pack, add another $20 for each.

Estimated delivery:Oct 2012

You selected

Pledge $70 or more

78 backers

Pick any 4 of any of the following: Cityographer, Hexographer, Dungeonographer, Coat of Arms Design Studio, "Alternate Classic" icons for Hexographer (see the Hexographer website), or any of the icon packs we do for Cityographer (there will be at least 3 packs: medieval fantasy, modern, and futuristic; note Cityographer will have a built in collection of icons spanning all genres.) This reward lets you get extra Cityographer licenses for friends or get 3 art packs included or pick up all the sister products at a lower price.

Estimated delivery:Oct 2012

You selected

Pledge $125 or more

35 backers

As the "Pick any 4" reward, but get 8 items. You can pick one each of Cityographer, the 3 icon packs for it, Hexographer, the "alternate classic" icon pack for Hexographer, Dungeonograoher, and the Coat of Arms Design Studio. Pick one of each as stated, or get some duplicates to give to a friend instead of some of the others. If the Cityographer project goes beyond the planned 3 icon packs (or you want duplicates of some products without dropping others) add $15 to your pledge per extra product.

Estimated delivery:Oct 2012

You selected

Pledge $150 or more

1 backer

In-app mention: As the "Pick any 4" $70 reward plus get a custom building icon. Depending on how universal the building is, we may include a version of in the built-in icons. In any case, we'll use it in a map on our "loading" screen. Include your product/website's name on the building, and it will be seen every time someone loads a map!

Estimated delivery:Oct 2012

You selected

Pledge $250 or more

1 backer

As the "Pick any 4" $70 reward plus get the configuration files customized for your favorite game. The config files determine names, NPC characteristics, item lists, etc. and they will come in generic medieval fantasy, modern and futuristic versions, as well as a D&D (edition roughly neutral) version. Pick this reward and we'll customize them for your favorite game. You'll need to supply the raw data (items & prices, races & classes if appropriate, etc.) in just about any format and we'll convert it to Cityographer's format.

Estimated delivery:Oct 2012

Funding period

May 1, 2012 - Jun 14, 2012
(44 days)

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